, occasionally referred to by his pseudonym , was a Japanese industrialist and politician. He is best known as the founder of

Hankyu Railway , trading as , is a Japanese private railway company that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region and is one of the flagship properties of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in turn part of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group ...

, the

Takarazuka Revue The is a Japanese all-female musical theatre troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals and stories adapted from films, novels, manga, and Japane ...

, and

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

. He served as Minister of Commerce and Industry between 1940-1941.

Life

Ichizō Kobayashi was born in Kawarabe village, Koma,

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the no ...

(present-day

Nirasaki, Yamanashi is a city in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 29,483 in 12662 households, and a population density of 210 persons per km². The total area is . Geography Nirasaki is located in the northwestern end of the K ...

) on January 3, 1873, to a wealthy

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

family known by the trade name "Nunoya". His mother died immediately after his birth and his father left the family, leaving Kobayashi under the care of his uncle's family. He was named Ichizō, meaning "one-three", because of his birthday, January 3. He graduated from Keio Gijuku in 1892. After a 14-year career at the

Mitsui Bank was a major Japanese bank from 1876 to 1990. It merged with Taiyo Kobe Bank to form Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB), which was renamed The Sakura Bank in April 1992. Sakura Bank is now part of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). History T ...

, he founded (technically as one of the promoters/executive directors) Mino-o Arima Electric Railway Company (then Hankyu Corp., now,

Hankyu Hanshin Holdings is a Japanese multinational company, multinational ''keiretsu'' holding company which owns Hankyu, Hankyu Corporation, the Hanshin Electric Railway, Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., Toho, Toho Co., Ltd., and affiliate companies. On October ...

, Inc.) in 1907. At Hankyu, Kobayashi made success in the management of the railway in a less-populated region by developing residential areas and an amusement park along the railway line as well as a department store at the railway terminal. He also established the

and the Hankyu professional baseball team (the predecessors of

Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefectur ...

) to attract passengers. Such a business model established by Kobayashi was followed by other railway companies in Japan. Later, Kobayashi was president of council of (Tokyo Gas Electric Engineering Company). He was appointed in charge of the

Ministry of Commerce and Industry A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and M ...

in the 1940 Konoe Cabinet. He joined the

Taisei Yokusankai The , or Imperial Aid Association, was the Empire of Japan's ruling organization during much of World War II. It was created by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on 12 October 1940, to promote the goals of his ("New Order") movement. It evolved i ...

Group with

Shōzō Murata was a Japanese entrepreneur, cabinet minister and diplomat before, during and after World War II. Biography Murata was a native of Tokyo and a graduated the Tokyo Higher Commerce School (now Hitotsubashi University) in 1900.Akira Kazami. They supported a new political and economic militarist-socialist program. He stood for capitalist interests in Japan's incursions into Asia and a

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...

right-socialist government. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was appointed the cabinet minister of the Shidehara cabinet and became the president of the , but he was soon

purged In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...

due to his prewar political career. The purge was lifted in 1951. Kobayashi died in January 1957. The Itsuō Art Museum in

Ikeda, Osaka is a Cities of Japan, city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. As of February 2017, the city had an estimated population of 103,028 and a population density of 4,700 persons per km2. The total area is 22.09 km2. History In the Edo period, Ikeda h ...

opened in October 1957 and is dedicated for his art collection.

Kobayashi diplomatic mission, September 1940

Ichizō Kobayashi was commissioned by the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

to lead a diplomatic mission to the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

in 1940. Negotiations were for a new agreement on Dutch oil. On September 12, 1940, a Japanese delegation of 24, led by Kobayashi as the Minister of Commerce and Industry, arrived in

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

to renegotiate political and economic relations between Japan and the

. Included were six high-ranking military officers, one of them

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Tadashi Maeda. The Dutch Embassy in Japan did not actively take part, although the Dutch Ambassador in Tokyo, J .C. Pabst, had already received the first list of Japanese economic demands in June 1940. Later, all further negotiations were conducted via the Dutch colonial administration in

and Sukabumi, and received support from the Japanese

Consulate General A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

, in the persons of Matatoshi Saito (before 1941) and later by Yutaka Ishizawa. Their first demand was an increase of petrol exports to Japan from the existing 570,000 tons in 1939 to 3,750,000 tons, about 50% of the total Dutch East Indies production. The Dutch answered that existing obligations would only permit an increase to about 1,800,000 tons. Kobayashi initially accepted this proposal, but was soon recalled to Japan on October 2, 1940. In the book '' Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor'' written by

Robert Stinnett Robert B. Stinnett (March 31, 1924 – November 6, 2018) was an American sailor, photographer and author. He earned ten battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation (US), Presidential Unit Citation. He was the author of ''Day of Deceit'', regardin ...

The heated diplomatic interchanges between Kobayashi and van Mook (H.J. van Mook, Dutch minister) were in sharp contrast to the peaceful surroundings. Japan's diplomats angrily contended that the Netherlands delegates were mere puppets of Washington. On the table were proposals involving Japanese rights to obtain oil and petroleum products from the Netherlands' enormous reserves in the Dutch East Indies. Japan called for the Dutch to provide a minimum of 3,150,000 metric tons of petroleum annually. One of the delegates, Japanese minister of commerce Ichizō Kobayashi, demanded that the Dutch guarantee a delivery schedule covering a five-year period. Kobayashi expressed the attitude of his government: ''The Netherlands has been closely co-operating with United Kingdom and the United States. Now is the time to shake hands with Japan.''''Day of Deceit'', Robert B. Stinnett, New York 2000 p. 40

Another diplomatic commission was then led by

Kenkichi Yoshizawa was a Japanese diplomat in the Empire of Japan, serving as 46th Foreign Minister of Japan in 1932. He was the maternal grandfather of Sadako Ogata, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1991–2001. Biography Yoshizawa ...

References

External links

Itsuo Art Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobayashi, Ichizo 1873 births 1957 deaths People from Yamanashi Prefecture Baseball executives Government ministers of Japan Hankyu Railway Japanese art collectors Japanese railway entrepreneurs Japanese sports businesspeople Japanese theatre managers and producers Keio University alumni

Life

Kobayashi diplomatic mission, September 1940

References

Further reading

External links